“If the Iconographic shows man in Heaven, the Gothic shows man here on earth, still struggling, still on the pilgrim path that leads to Heaven.”
The Iconographic vs The Gothic
The Gothic form is sometimes regarded as a degradation of the Iconographic, a slippery slope that ends in a fallen form devoid of the elements that make it truly sacred art. But I think this opinion misses the point of the Gothic.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his book “The Spirit of the Liturgy” (authored as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), gives a very clear explanation of the Gothic and its value as an authentic form of liturgical, sacred art. At its core, it is a matter of vision.
The Iconographic form is the art of the eschatological. The Iconographic shows man as he is in Heaven, surrounded by the uncreated light of Mt Tabor, in communion with God, and at peace. The iconographer strives to show this with symbols. Gold conveys the light of Heaven and a serene half smile on the lips of the saints show the peace we will know in the world to come.
If the Iconographic shows man in Heaven, the Gothic shows man here on earth, still struggling, still on the pilgrim path that leads to Heaven. As such the Gothic form presents man and the world around him in a much more naturalistic fashion. The human form is rendered less stiffly, and the created world around us is depicted as fallen, yet still retaining some of the beauty and goodness with which it was created. That being said the Gothic form retains a balance between “realism” and “stylization”
The two forms are related, and much of the symbolism of the former is carried over to the latter. But the Gothic form is a meditation on what the world around us can tell us about God. All of our experiences, the trials and sufferings of Our Lord and His saints, provide us with moments to mediate upon the nature of God and Our place in creation.
Like the Iconographic, the images of the Gothic do not stop at the surface, that is, the outward aesthetics of the image. Rather they lead us beyond the images of the external sensible world to, as Pope Benedict puts it, “open our eyes to the heart of God.”
This page of the Morgan Bible presents us with one of the most Iconographic of the Gothic images, the vision of Jacob. But before we get to that let’s look at the rest of the page.
The Story of Lot
The left half of the upper register concludes the story of Lot and the city of Sodom. Lot flees with his family while the city is destroyed by fire from Heaven. Lot’s wife looks back at her home, against the instruction of the angels and she is turned into a pillar of salt.
Within the framework that is common to all the pages we see two of the realms of existence pictured. The earthly realm where the city lies an the heavenly realm from which the fire descends. The heavenly realm is defined by a border of clouds to distinguish it from the earthly. The earthly realm is set against a gold leaf background which is again an artistic decision as we have seen elsewhere.
The destruction of Sodom is portrayed as a jumble of architectural elements, towers, arches, turrets, and doorways. This is a fairly typical gothic convention and is seen in other contexts such as the fall of Jericho and the destruction of Babylon. The difference here is the inclusion of bodies mixed in with the ruins. The artist makes it clear that the people were destroyed along with their city. The Morgan Bible is sometimes described as a “picture book” bible but that does not mean its intended audience was children. The city is destroyed by God on account of its wickedness.
Lot and his daughters walk away from the destruction their faces set firmly ahead of them. But Lot’s wife, disregarding the divine will is turned to salt which the artist shows by depicting her in mono-color in contrast to her husband and daughters.
The Story of Jacob
The right half of the upper register begins the story of Jacob. Within the same frame, Jacob’s mother Rebekah prepares Jacob to deceive his father Isaac. She is shown taking the skins of kids and putting them on his hands and the smooth parts of his neck. Jacob presents himself to his father, pretending to be his older brother Esau. Isaac is blind and reaches out to touch Jacob’s hands. Thinking it is his oldest son, Isaac imparts the blessing of the firstborn to Jacob, the second born.
Esau’s Birthright
In the lower register Esau comes to his father to receive the blessing that is his birthright but Isaac laments that he has been deceived and now the older son must serve the younger.
Although the horizon line is kept low, in keeping with the Gothic style, the artist includes a raised hill so that we may fully see Esau and his hounds hunting a stag. In the same panel Esau offers the stag to his father who, as the head of the household, is seated om a throne-like chair with a covering. We are told that Esau “went in” to his father so the covering may be taken as a symbol that the event takes place inside.
“Jacob’s Ladder”
In the final panel is depicted the vision of Jacob. Isaac has sent his son away to find a wife among his cousins. He stops midway to ret for the evening and has a vision of a ladder reaching to Heaven with angels ascending and descending. God looks down from the top of the ladder extending his blessing to Jacob. On waking, Jacob builds an altar and pours oil on it as an offering to the Lord who accepts the offering and promises Jacob land, descendants, and blessings.
Although the iconographic prototypes differ in details and their arrangements, they include the elements seen here. Jacob is sleeping. A ladder with angels ascending and descending. Jacob offers a sacrifice of oil on a newly built altar (more often Jacob wrestling with an angel replaces the sacrificial offering.).
The background is gold once again, probably to balance the gold used in the upper register. Heaven is again defined as a separate realm bordered by clouds. Though God does not have the cruciform halo that would definitively identify him as the second person of the Trinity, the hair and beard would suggest that is what we are to see.
The artist has displayed wonderful creativity in showing angels descending. Given the relatively small space in which he had to work, he left no doubt as to what is happening.
Within the same space Jacob offers sacrifice and Gos again appears from Heaven to accept the offering and bless Jacob.
The artists of the Gothic style received the traditions of the Iconographic style with great respect. As artists did 600 years later in the Gothic revival of the 19th century, they changed as little as possible but felt no need to strictly copy the past. They modified the the past conventions in order to serve the needs of the Church of their time. With the humility that is part of the make-up of the sacred artist, they may even have found aspects to improve upon.
For more information on the Maciejowski Bible visit the Morgan Museum website at https://www.themorgan.org/collection/Crusader-Bible